Jason's Lean Resume Guide - Projects

(Work in progress, please have patience!)

• Header
• Education
• Experience
• Other Sections
  • Projects
  • Publications and presentations
  • Skills/Hobbies/Interests
• Formatting
  • Which font should I use?
  • Is my resume ATS compliant?
  • Final Polish

PROJECTS

Project sections are GREAT for people who do... well, project work. If you are a programmer, a designer, an artist, perhaps even an engineer, then a project section will help solidify your resume in ways that just listing your jobs won't.

Projects should use something like this template:

Project <spacer> [Date range]

Skill | Skill | Skill | Skill | Skill

STAR format description of about a paragraph (~4 sentences).

DOCUMENT EVERYTHING! At the very least, you want a photo gallery so you can show employers your work. For programming projects, a Github page works well.

Point-by-point:

Project name (You ideally want this to be a link to either the project itself, the landing page for the project, or at the very least, a GitHub or photo gallery. You want them to be able to find out more, or get a good example of your work).

Date range - Just like a job. Be a little careful here. People have a pretty good idea of how long it takes to make an app, write a book, plant a garden, or cure the common cold. If you worked on this only part-time, might be a good idea to mention that, so they aren't left wondering why it took you six years to finish.

Skills/Languages - This is very important to programmers... show off the tools and languages you used.

For other groups, it's not a bad time to show off your techniques. Photographer? Talk about your camera and lighting rig. Video Editor? Software, maybe even the filming techniques. Baker? Tools, types of recipes, influences. Musician? Instruments, editing equipment, influences.

This is great because it helps trip the ATS, and puts it in human language, which makes the reviewers happy. I've fairly recently found out that some (not all) ATS software puts together a list of skills and estimates your experience with them. If you list a skill in your skills section, it will typically say you have 6 months of experience. If you put it in the job bullet, however, it assumes for how long you had that job. Which would you prefer, "knowing" excel for 6 months, or 2, 3, or 5 years of your last job?

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So your projects might look something like this:

Tetris Clone App ____(Reddit doesn't hold blank spaces) __ Jan 2021-Mar 2021

Node.js | C++ | Python

Needed to learn Python, so developed a clone of the classic Tetris game. This game became the 427,293rd most downloaded game on the Google Game store.

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Save Our Park Planting Project _________ Jan 2021-Mar 2021

Conservation | Landscaping | Hydrogeology | City and County permitting

After roving pack of Mongols burned down our park, led group of 37 volunteers to replant and improve it. Spearheaded the city permitting process for trees, wildlife, water, and anti-Mongol traps. Completed work on park and has not had one Mongol invasion since.

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Would love to get feedback on this, to help me make it more useful. If you have an idea or question, feel free to reply.

I'll be adding more sections as we go (and likely revising as well)